Baby Shower

On Saturday I had a beautiful baby shower put on by some fantastic ladies here!  Liz, Rachel, Katie and Chelsea did an amazing job!!  The theme was rubber ducky and they left nothing undecorated!!  The girls did an amazing job, and I was so excited to see the beautiful decorations, and fantastic friends who came out for the shower.

The beautiful decorations!

 Fun Party Guests!

Party Games!

Presents for Brandon!

Amazing Girl Friends!!

Susan came from California!!

33 Weeks

It's been another busy week.  I can't believe how fast summer is flying by.  We only have a couple of weeks left, and I feel like I haven't accomplished half of what I wanted to do this summer.  I guess this is how my life is going to be from now on.  The good news is, our living room is complete, the cross wall is done, as well as our new picture wall.  Liz helped me go shopping on Saturday, and we added pillows, and drapes to our windows too.  I promise to add pictures later, as I still haven't taken any.

 Our new photo wall, above the couch

Our new cross wall, where the photo wall use to be.  We need more crosses now!

Last Thursday I went to the doctor, and she said my pregnancy is text book.  I am measuring right as I should be, and all of that looks great.  She explained gestational diabetes to me a little, and told me I was right on the cusp.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep this all under control with my diet, and won't have to worry about insulin or this staying around after Brandon comes.  Thursday afternoon I had my diabetes class, and I was given a glucose meter.  Right now I have to record everything I eat, and take my blood four times a day.  It isn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it isn't fun, that's for sure.  I have to eat six times a day too, which doesn't sound too bad, but when you have to over think everything you're eating, it isn't exactly fun.  I am on a 225 grams of carbs a day diet, which when you think about it, isn't really that much.  Eating an apple alone is 30!!  I talk to the diabetes lady again on Thursday to make sure that everything is working out, and that I won't have to go on medication.  We are discovering that my body doesn't metabolize very quickly in the morning, so I'm going to have to start exercising before or after breakfast.  It won't be so bad until I have to go back to work.  Then I don't even want to think about what time I'll have to get up to make sure I eat breakfast by 6:30, have time to work out, and can get to work at a decent hour.  For me, being to work after 7 is late.

Sunday Tyler and I drove up to Sedona to spend a few days.  It was nice to be able to get away, and not have to think about our to do list.  We didn't do anything while we were up there, which was great!!  We really just watched Criminal Minds, and I took a nap on Monday.  We finished season 2, and started season 3.  We didn't get to go to Savanah's this year though, because it has closed!!  We were super sad to find out it was closed, but at the same time glad, because then we saved a bunch of money that we would have spent on dinner.  It was beautiful up there, and the weather was very nice.

We came back home on Tuesday, because I had bible study tonight.  Katie, Rachel and I took the girls to Fashion Square for our girls' night out.  The girls had a good time, and we had a great time shopping.  We had the girls go on a photo scavenger hunt, and they found some awesome things.  It was a blast to do, and I think that they would enjoy doing it again.  We had them find things like headless mannequins, Mickey Mouse, baby converse, an orange purse, and a family with 3 or more kids.  The girls came up with some awesome outfits, for a mix-matched outfit as well.

Today I get to finally do my final presentation for grad school, so I'm excited to finish that and be done with grad school!  My presentation is at 2:00 this afternoon, so all prayers around that time will be greatly appreciated.  I just have to present everything I did this semester, including the reason I created my training sessions, and then what I did.  I don't know how many people will actually "show up" to listen to my presentation, but I'm assuming not too many.  Then I'll be done, and will be able to put my diploma up on the wall.  We're excited to add two more diplomas in our office!

We are also taking maternity pictures tonight, so I'm really excited to see how those will turn out!!  A girl I went to college with is taking them, because she wants to get her photography business started.  I went shopping with Liz on Saturday and got new outfits, so I can't wait to wear them.

Until next week, I hope that you are all doing well!!  We love and miss you all!!

32 Weeks

What a week it has been!  I went in last Wednesday for the three hour glucose test.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  Luckily the "vampire" as I call her, even though she is a really nice lady, is super good at her job.  I had to have blood taken four times in the three hours I was there.  Once, right when I got there, and then again every hour.  It wasn't too bad sitting there either.  They had a nice room for me to wait in with lazy boy recliners, a TV, pillows and blankets.  I read a bunch, took a little nap, and Nicole talked to me to help me pass the time.

I found out on Thursday that I did not pass the test, so I now have gestational diabetes.  I don't really know what that means yet, other than I can't have sugar!  No desserts, sweetened beverages, syrups, jams, jelly, fruit juices and I need to limit the amount of milk I drink.  I don't really understand the milk part, but I'm sure someone does.  I am going tomorrow to take a class about how to handle this, and make sure that Brandon and I are going to be good during the next eight weeks.

Tyler and I also celebrated our four year anniversary last Thursday!  We were going to go out to dinner, but instead just stayed home, and he cooked a delicious steak dinner!  We then went out Saturday morning for brunch to celebrate our anniversary.  We ended up going to Brio.  It was yummy!!

Saturday night we took out the Hulkes to Oreganos which is a very yummy pizza place that just opened near our house.  It is one of Tyler's favorites, and is probably going to be deadly that there is one near our house now.  :)  The Hulkes just moved here on Friday, and we are excited that they are going to be here.  Andrew will be teaching with Tyler, and Emily is going to be finishing up some schooling, and then doing her internship this year.  I am also super excited because they love to play Catan as much as I do, and Tyler wants to play with them!!  We have already played twice with Andrew!!

Sunday Christie flew into town, and it was great to be able to spend a couple of days with her.  We just ate, relaxed, watched some movies, and went to traffic school!! We both got caught on photo radar tickets, and it just happened that we both were able to take this class.  I think I am the first person who was excited to get their letter from the MVD telling them to go sign up for this class!!  I knew Christie was going to be taking it, so I was glad i was able to take it with her!  It made the eight hours go a lot faster, that's for sure.  We learned a lot, and there were some crazy people there, that's for sure.  Out of the 14 of us there, 4 people were in for DUIs!!  We learned though, that in AZ you can get a DUI for even one drink with dinner.  The 0.08 limit in California doesn't apply here, any hint can get you a DUI.  To me that is just crazy!!

I go back to the doctor tomorrow, and then I have my diabetes class in the afternoon.  I will keep everyone updated on what is going on, but prayers are always appreciated!!  We're counting down the days, and can't wait!!  Only 8 weeks left until Brandon comes and joins our crazy household!

4 years...

I can hardly believe that Tyler and I have been married for four years!!  It is crazy to imagine how much our lives have changed over the past four years.  We have gone through many ups and downs, as any couple has.  We have spent 1,460 days, 35,040 hours, or 2,102,400 minutes as man and wife.  That is a lot of time to spend with someone.  

During these past four years we have traveled up and down the state of California visiting friends and family.

Celebrating Christmas at the Lampe home with the Stellers! Fresno 2008

Dinner with Kelly, June 2010

We have moved to Arizona.

Welcome to Arizona!!  June 2008

We have gone to weddings of family members, and friends who we consider family.

Piol Wedding, May 2010

Shaver Wedding, July 2009 

Kahler Wedding, May 2011

Stetson Wedding, August 2009

We've traveled to the Bahamas, Lake Tahoe, Sedona, Orlando, San Francisco, Newport Beach, San Diego, Palm Springs, Houston, Texas, Omaha, Nebraska, Boulder, Colorado and Bend, Oregon.

Lake Tahoe, June 2011

Bend, Oregon, June 2009

Sedona, March 2010

Tyler went to Alaska with the guys, summer of 2009.  I went to New Orleans with the high school youth group, summer of 2010.  I traveled to Las Vegas with the Pinter family June of 2010.  I also went to Florida to visit the Richter family October of 2010.

Hanging out in Vegas with the Pinter crew!

Jeremy, our DCE biting an alligator in New Orleans!

We have had multiple side jobs including coaching flag football, soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, tutoring and working for New York and Company. 

We have gone to many concerts, including Jeremy Camp, Mercy Me, Toby Mac, Third Day, and Rascal Flatts.

We have seen countless movies, and added to our movie collection.  We are now the proud owners of two DVD stands!!

Tyler's pride and joy!!

We have bought rented two apartments, lived with the in-laws, rented a house, and bought a house!  

The day we got our keys and moved in!

We have furnished our home, and then bought new furniture to turn our house into a home.

We have had many people come to stay with us, and taken them out to the zoo, movies, spring training, and yummy places to eat.

Piol visit, Howl at the Moon, November 2009

Melting Pot with the Richter's before they moved to Florida, August 2010

We have both worked on our masters, and almost finished!!

We have fallen in love with each other more and more every day, and we are now falling in love with Brandon.  We have been blessed with our baby boy, who we can't wait to join our family in just a short nine weeks!!

June 2008, Dave and Busters, Orange County

June 2008, Gondola Ride, Newport Beach

June 30, 2009 ~ 1 year!!  Sedona, Arizona

July 5, 2010 ~ Eating our wedding cake with Susan!

Matt's 30th birthday!  August 2009

Saying goodbye to my childhood home!!  June 2011

Heading off on our honeymoon!!  July 2007

June 2010

Brandon going on Toy Story at Disneyland, March 2011

31 Weeks

A lot has happened in the past week!  I can't believe how quickly the time is flying!!  Tyler and I are still working hard on getting the house ready for Brandon, and all of our guests that are going to be joining us in the month of July.  We are very excited for the busy month ahead, but at the same time, sad that our summer is already half way over.

Last Wednesday I had another doctor's appointment, and we found out that we graduated.  Now we get to start going to the doctors every two weeks.  That means we go again next week, and then hopefully I'll be able to schedule my appointment after that for when my mom is here.  :)   It would be awesome if she got to go with me, because she hasn't made any appointments yet, and then she can hear his heartbeat too!!  I got a phone call from the doctor today, and found out that I failed the glucose test last week.  That means I get to go in for a three hour test tomorrow!!  I'm oh so excited about that one!!  I had to start fasting at 8:00 tonight, which includes water as well!!  It is really hard to be living in the desert in the middle of the summer, not drinking anything.  Luckily I'm going to go to bed soon, and then hopefully I'll sleep in (at least until 7), so it won't be as bad in the morning.  I know I'll be starving though.  Especially since I ate breakfast at 6:30 yesterday, and 7:00 this morning.  The doctor also told me that I'm anemic, so I had to start taking Iron as well.  For those of you who don't know, I can't swallow, so finding iron in liquid form was hard enough, but then paying for it was even harder.  I got 240 mL for $15, and I have to take 20 mL every day.  Needless to say, I'm going to search the internet for a cheaper price to order the next bottle online tomorrow.  I'm going to take the bottle in that I have and make sure it is okay first.

Other than that, we have just been working hard around the house.  Tyler has been a great help getting everything ready since I'm not supposed to be lifting any thing.  We went to IKEA yesterday to buy my new desk, so now our office is set up with my computer in it.  I still have to finish cleaning out my office though, and moving stuff over.  It will be interesting to see how often we are both working at our computers, but it will be fun for a while to share this space.  I need to be done moving stuff out, or at least cleaning it up A LOT because our first July visitor is coming on Sunday!!

We also cleaned out some stuff from the kitchen.  We went through our spice cabinet, and started throwing stuff away that was outdated.  We also went through our cabinets, and moved some things around to make room for some things my mom is going to be bringing.  We are probably going to be doing Christmas at our house this year, unless they get their house first, so I'm pretty excited that I'll get all of my mom's Christmas china for at least the year!!  We've used this china for Christmas for as long as I can remember!!  I want to get my own stuff too, and I saw some at Khol's last year that I really liked, but I know it wouldn't be the same.

I also decided to redo the picture wall that we have downstairs, along with our bedroom picture wall.  I haven't finished either project yet, but that is what I plan on finishing this week.  I promise to put up pictures of that as soon as it is done as well.  I'm excited for the new pictures that are going to be going up, as some of the ones that we had on the wall were four years old!!  We'll still have some older pictures on the wall, but excited to show off some of the new additions, or adventures we've had with our loved ones!!

We just ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers as I go through testing tomorrow, and Brandon continues to grow.  It is amazing how much more active he is, and how often he is moving around.  I still feel pretty good, so I'm excited about that.  Tyler is finishing basketball camp this week as well, so he is excited that then he'll be able to stay home and relax with me.

Until next week, I hope that you all have a great 4th of July, and be safe!!

30 Weeks . . .

It's crazy to believe that I already only have 10 weeks left before Brandon will be joining this crazy world!!  We had a doctor's appointment yesterday which went well.  We got to see our doctor again because she was off for the last two appointments because she just had a baby.  We also have to register for classes soon, so we have to sign up for those.  We want to do them in July, but because of the dates they are offered I don't think that we'll be able to.  We may end up just doing them through the hospital instead, or waiting until August.

Now that we are back home Tyler is back at work.  He has basketball camp this week, and next week.  Him and one of the fifth grade teachers are running the camp, and this week they have something like 25 kids!!  Next week they only have 12, so they are looking forward to that.  Tyler has also been tutoring this week, and will continue that next week as well.

We have been working hard on getting things cleaned up, and ready here as well.  For the last two nights Tyler has painted the letters that we are going to hang on the wall, as I've been writing thank yous.  We have also started watching Criminal Minds, because my parents got Tyler the complete set for his birthday and we knew we wanted to wait until this summer to watch it!

Other than that, we aren't doing much.  We are just relaxing, and enjoying the fact that it is summer.  It's crazy to think that in a month we'll be going back to work already.  We are excited that we have a lot going on before then!!  In the month of July we'll have two good friends visit, as well as my mom come to visit too!

For those of thinking about visiting, right now on Southwest you can get cheap tickets!!  The only bad part is that you have to buy them by today.  For those coming from Orange County (hint, hint Nicole) they are $40, and those coming from Oakland (hint, hint, EVERYONE ELSE!!) they are only $80.  We would love to see you all, and can't wait to introduce Brandon to everyone!!  :)

Baby Shower

While we were in Northern California my mom and my aunt threw me a baby shower.  It was a blast to see friends and family that I haven't seen in a while.  My mom and aunt did an amazing job, and it was a lot of fun.  We didn't play very many games, which was nice, because it gave us time to talk.  

My mom and I

Brandon was spoiled by everyone there, and he got lots of amazing presents.  His bedding is now complete, and he got his pack and play, as well as his high chair!  He also got a lot of awesome clothes that we can't wait to put him in.  He even got his first Disney onesie!!  My mom had already sent him a Disney PJ set, but this onesie came from Aunt Bree and Uncle Kevin.  :)  He is going to melt some hearts in it.

It was nice to see friends that I haven't seen in a long time as well.  The guests ranged from family, grandmas (all four of them!), to family friends from when we were young, the vice Principal's secretary from high school, to my best friend's moms.  It was great to see everyone, and my only regret from the shower is not taking more pictures with people.  I wish I would have taken more pictures with these people who love and care for me and my family.  I have a few pictures with some people, but not very many.  For those of you who know me, pictures are huge in my life!!  I will make sure to do this at my next shower, so that way I can show Brandon all of the people who cared for him before he was out here in this crazy world with us!!

 Some of my High School Moms (My mom, Alex's mom, Brian's mom)

My cousin was the closest to how big my belly is!! 

Brooke was my little helper, she helped open all the presents.  (This beautiful blanket was handmade by my friend Heather's mom)